Green Sunday (6/11): Public Banking – Here, There, and Everywhere!

brettanthonydixon

9 months ago

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Green Sunday, June 11th, 5:00 – 6:45 pm

In the last few months, articles, conversations, and proposed legislation about public banking have been cropping up all over. It seems sudden — if you aren’t one of the people who have been working for well over five years to plant the seeds.

Because the topic is so new to most people, reactions range from blank looks to confusion and misapprehension about what a public bank is, what it isn’t, and what it could be.

The three of us will cover many aspects of public banking, both potential and existing. To whet your interest, let’s just say that the Bank of North Dakota (the only currently-operating public bank in the country) has had fourteen consecutive years of profit, and that money is being reinvested in North Dakota, not funneled off to profiteers. For comparison, one reasonable estimate based on the relative sizes of North Dakota and Oakland is that an Oakland public bank could save the city $200,000 A DAY.

Come and learn more!

Craig Brandt is an attorney in the Bay Area who is deeply committed to the public bank movement. Recently featured in a public banking article in The Nation, Craig became a banking activist following the LIBOR scandal of 2015, which crystallized his opposition to Wall Street banking.

Christine McClintock has long been involved in the Green movement, from her time as an Environmental Extension Agent in the Peace Corps, stationed in Togo, West Africa, to her years as the Treasurer for the San Francisco Green Party, to her current role as a Financial and Compliance Analyst with the Sierra Club. She has been a part of the effort for the Public Bank of Oakland as well as Strike Debt Bay Area.

Debbie Notkin is a lifelong activist who veered away from public policy to feminist and body image issues in the 1980s and was pulled back by the energy of Occupy Wall Street in 2011. Since then, she has worked with Occupy Oakland Foreclosure Defense and Strike Debt Bay Area, as well as Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland, and is also working on bystander intervention projects.

WHEN: Sunday, June 11th, 5:00 pm
LOCATION: Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland
DIRECTIONS: One block north of Alcatraz on the West side of Telegraph, wheelchair accessible. Buses pass by regularly. Ashby BART is approximately 7 blocks away.

SPONSOR: Green Sundays are a series of free programs & discussions sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and are held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party of Alameda County follows at 7 pm; council meetings are always open to anyone who is interested. Please visit our website: https://acgreens.wordpress.com/